Neolithic Society in Greece

86 Paul Halstead
blages is too few for detailed anatomical

analysis, but there is no evidence that red deer
were more likely to be transported as whole
carcases after the introduction of the horse.
Finally, although both faunal and architec-
tural evidence is too sparse to allow direct
comparison of the two data sets, the increased
frequency of wild animals in EB assemblages
may be related to the relative isolation of the
Bronze Age household compared to its
Neolithic predecessor. By contrast, according
to the domus model, the proportion of wild
animals should arguably have been lowest in
MN or LN, when domestic symbolism was
most elaborated, and relatively high in both
EN and EB. Following the household isolation
model, wild animals could either have been
avoided by earlier Neolithic farmers or have
been hunted and consumed off-site. The latter
interpretation might be favoured if antler and
skins with attached foot bones were removed
from kills and brought back to the settlement
as raw materials, but, as noted above, the ear-
lier assemblages contain too few bones of wild
animals to sustain such anatomical analysis.
The evidence for wild plant use is more dif-
ficult to quantify meaningfully, and, in forag-
ing societies, gathered plant foods and small
animals are less subject to sharing than large
animals (Whitelaw 1983). Archaeobotanical
finds on open settlements of caches of fruits
and nuts, however, represent plant foods
brought back to the village, not for immediate
consumption but to be stored for later use.
The frequency of fruits and nuts relative to
similar finds of cereal and pulse crops increas-
es through time in much the same way as do
the remains of hunted larger animals
(Halstead 1994: 204-205, table 1), but the sam-
ple size is small. Moreover, there is ambiguity
as to when, where and if various of these fruit
and nut species were domesticated (e.g. Smith
and Jones 1990; Mangafa and Kotsakis 1996),
but textual evidence indicates cultivation of
vine and fig, at least, by the Late Bronze Age
(e.g. Palmer 1994). Nonetheless, it is intrigu-
ing to note that caches of acorns, which are
usually regarded as gathered rather than cul-
tivated, are so far reported only from Bronze
Age contexts.
Thus the oppositions between private and
public, indoors and outdoors, uncooked and
cooked, domestic and wild can all be compre-
hended in terms of the progressive physical
and symbolic isolation of the household and
the concomitant erosion of obligations to share
in favour of rights to store. The suggested link-
age between these symbolic oppositions is
strengthened by the changes that take place at
the end of the Neolithic: yard or kitchen walls
enclose cooking facilities; decorated table ware
largely disappears; the consumption of game
increases; and the widespread adoption of pit
storage suggests that surpluses were increas-
ingly hoarded for future consumption or
exchange rather than dissipated through hos-
pitality (Halstead 1995). Undoubtedly, this nar-
rative is based on rather circumstantial evi-
dence, but its logical and empirical coherence,
both synchronically and diachronically, is
encouraging. Moreover, its situation within the
practical reasoning of Flannery offers a more
contextually sensitive interpretation of Neo-
lithic material culture than would imposition
of Hodder's cross-cultural domus model.
Playing with Bricks: Households and Tells
The Neolithic archaeological record of Greece
and the Balkans contrasts strikingly with that
of north-west Europe: the former is rich in set-
tlements, while the latter is dominated by
monuments of a funerary or other ceremonial
character. The ditch encircling the flat-extend-
ed site at Makriyalos is strongly reminiscent
of the causewayed enclosure monuments of
England, but in other respects this site
Neighbours from Hell? The Household in Neolithic Greece 87
appears to have been an alternative form of
settlement to the better known tells rather
than a regional gathering place (Pappa and
Besios this volume; Kotsakis this volume). It is
hard to resist Sherratt's argument that the
absence of ceremonial monuments in Neo-
lithic Greece is causally related to the abun-
dance of 'monumental' tell settlements
(Sherratt 1990; also Chapman 1991).
The formation of tells is partly a product of
the use of mudbrick in house construction and
it is tempting to regard the widespread use of
mudbrick in the Near East and south-east
Europe as a response to the challenge of scarce
timber and the opportunity of a dry climate.
Mudbrick also has excellent insulating prop-
erties, but it was used alongside other post-
frame building techniques on Greek Neolithic
sites (Gallis 1996a) and today mud brick can be
seen in standing buildings in southern
England. In the Neolithic, therefore, it was
neither necessary to use mudbrick in south-
east Europe, nor impracticable to use it in
north-west Europe---rather its use was a mat-
ter of choice. A second requirement for tell for-
mation is that new houses should be built on
top of their predecessors rather than being
relocated horizontally, as evidently occurred
at flat-extended settlements like Makriyalos
(Pappa and Besios this volume; Kotsakis this
r volume). The location of house building is
also a matter of choice, whether by the future
inhabitants alone or by the wider community.
If the two preconditions for tell formation,
use of mudbrick and in situ rebuilding, were
both matters of human choice, it is tempting to
suggest that these monumental settlements
were built up deliberately. This was actually
suggested over a century ago by Lolling, who
saw tells as habitations deliberately raised up
to avoid risk of flooding (1884: 101), but this
interpretation is invalid for many tells for the
same topographic reasons as van Andel' s
floodwater farming hypothesis (Tsountas 1908:
21). More recently, Chapman has argued that
such settlements in both Greece and the
Balkans mark a shift from space- to place-cen-
tred perceptions of the social world that accom-
panied the shift from mobile foraging to seden-
tary farming (Chapman 1994; Kotsakis this vol-
ume). It might be questioned, however, how an
initially modest tell mound would have con-
tributed to the structuring of space on a region-
al scale. In Thessaly, where tell settlements are
densely scattered from a very early stage of the
Neolithic (Perles this volume), a traveller
would have moved through a highly encultur-
ated landscape. It is unlikely, on present evi-
dence, that lowland deforestation had proceed-
ed to the point that the view from one settle-
ment would afford an uninterrupted line of
sight to all its neighbours (Bottema 1979, 1982;
also Willis and Bennett 1994) just a few kilome-
tres away, but smoke from cooking fires was
probably visible at appropriate times of day
and in appropriate seasons. Moreover, anyone
walking along the paths between settlements
would have seen increasingly unambiguous
signs of nearby habitation-trees with signs of
past lopping for fodder or firewood, clearings
where domestic animals had suppressed the
regrowth of trees, the droppings and tracks of
livestock, and then plots of cultivated ground
or growing crops. The observant and knowl-
edgeable traveller would have formed a fairly
accurate impression of the location and perma-
nence of the next village well before it was I
apparent that its houses stood above the plain.
More attractive is the suggestion that the\
Neolithic observer would have understood
that tells were formed through successive
rebuilding and so would have read a tall
mound as an indication of lengthy occupation.
Thus tells may have been built up deliberately
to project a sense not only of place but also of
time or ancestry (cf. Chapman 1991: 155;
Kotsakis this volume). The abundance of tells
in Thessaly might be taken as an indication that
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102 Catherine Perles and Karen D. Vitelli
by the widespread exchange of flint and
jasper projectile points in the LN and FN,
which no 'technical' or 'functional' considera-
tion can justify.
Likewise, how the goods were procured was
also a social choice. Local or regional sources of
raw materials for chipped stone tools could
have been used. The reliance on exotic raw
materials, and thus on 'others' to get one's
daily tools, was not a functional necessity, and
it may well have been that these exotic raw
materials were valued because they were exot-
ic, and because they entailed exchanges. The
same obviously holds true for ornaments.
Conversely, clay was available to everyone,
and every woman, or man for that matter, had
she or he wanted to, could have found her or
his way into pottery making. Some kind of
social mechanism must have been at work to
restrict the diffusion of this knowledge and
practice in the earlier Neolithic.
Thus craft specialization and exchange in
Neolithic Greece must be viewed as social
choices, just as 'what products were used for'
was culturally determined. Rather than rely-
ing on individuals' capacities for self-suffi-
cient production, Greek Neolithic societies
chose to rely largely on interaction and
exchange. This, needless to say, entailed
severe risks, especially in a non-hierarchical
society. On the one hand, local groups, or frac-
tions of groups, chose to deprive themselves
of some of the basic, necessary skills for their
daily equipment. On the other hand, the
power relations between producer and con-
sumer had to be constantly renegotiated and
must have been a permanent source of tension
and change. [CP.]
Some interesting thoughts about ceramic
style, producer-consumer relationships and
the dynamics of social organization follow
from our analysis of craft specialization in the
Greek Neolithic. In thinking about the ceram-
ics from Franchthi and Lema, I have been
stuck for some time on three points-one is a
conviction and the other two are puzzles that
I have been unable to piece together. These
may serve to demonstrate the larger implica-
tions of our analysis.
The first-the conviction-is one I have
argued elsewhere: that the EN potters were
not only specialists, using the simplest defini-
tion of that term, but were also some kind ~ f
healers or diviners whose major role was in
the arena of spiritual or social well-being (e.g.
Vitelli 1995: 60-62).3 I arrive at this as follows:
(a) In the EN, pottery making was the new
'art du feu' . It depended on fire, fire that
provides welcome light and heat, but
devours flesh, food, wood and bone. Fire
that weakens even stone was made by the
potters to transform ordinary dry, brittle
mud to a permanent stone-like material, in
a performance that provided plentiful
drama. Pots hissed and exploded, flames
leapt and died, pot colours changed before
the eyes, pieces emerged with unpre-
dictable markings, with or without their
lugs and bases, shattered or intact, but
rock-like and permanent. It was, and is, a
magic show, with built-in opportunities
for divining. It would be surprising if mys-
tery and ritual had not been a crucial part
of pottery production when the whole
process was very new.
(b) At Franchthi, the total production in any
given year was well within the capability
of a single potter working for a few weeks,
but some social choice kept five potters
active, if rarely (Perles and Vitelli 1994:
230). That is more than the demand for
pots would have required, and fewer than
general domestic production should have
involved.
(c) I find, as others have, striking parallels
between plant and clay procurement and
104 Catherine Peries and Karen D. Vitelli
My new picture looks like this. The EN pot-
ter-healers performed their occasional rituals
for the resolution of inevitable conflicts
among their immediate neighbours. In the
MN, potter-healers with more powerful
recipes performed more frequently, probably
in more and more varied contexts. The best of
them developed reputations that spread
throughout the region. Individuals thus
acquired prominent and powerful social posi-
tions. But in an essentially egalitarian society,
counter-forces exist to balance the individ-
ual's prominence. The rules of broad regional
styles-rules that, probably unconsciously,
kept potters from moving beyond them-are,
I suggest, one manifestation of such a counter-
force.
The requisite sharing of new knowledge
among potters would have been another level-
ling mechanism. The contradictions I saw are,
in fact, examples of the dynamic tensions and
continuous negotiation and balancing between
the social power of the individual and that of
the larger social group. The dramatic rate of
innovation in MN ceramics reflects the escala-
tion of these basic tensions. The tensions must
have affected all aspects of life and apparently
stretched regional alliances to their limit, until
finally they snapped. In the last round of the
individual versus the large regional group, the
allegiance to the large group lost.
Thus LN begins as a reorganization of social
groups, of ceramic styles (Demoule and Perles
1993: 387), and a renegotiation of relationships
of all sorts. In the Peloponnese, sites are aban-
doned by some or all of the MN occupants (a
variation on hunter-gatherer fissioning to
resolve conflict) and we see more and smaller
settlements, of individuals with greater free-
dom of identity (Halstead 1995: 16-17). Each
group' s potters are free to develop their own
styles, but without the previous network of
shared specialist information, their knowl-
edge and skills vary substantially. The
increase in coarse/cooking wares contributes
to, and reflects, the decreasing 'mystique' and
ritual power of pottery making, as former rit-
uals become less relevant and knowledge of
the processes more widely known.
The entire social system, of course, is affect-
ed. In the south, either the smaller groups can
no longer rely on the safe passage and arrival
of the itinerant obsidian knapper, or they are
no longer socially restrained from exploring
his marvellous places themselves. Either way,
their new, direct access to the obsidian sources
de-mystifies and de-specializes obsidian pro-
duction, as Perles has pointed out. Something
similar probably transpired with the social
role of most 'rare goods', as the new explorers
came into their first direct contact with the
producers of these goods, making the objects
themselves less 'mystical', but the special
knowledge of the producers more apparent.
Small disc beads of shell, which almost cer-
tainly would have been used together in large
numbers, may present a different pattern than
other, one-piece ornaments. Miller has recent-
ly described the production process of these
small shell disc beads in the EN at Franchthi
(Miller 1996: 17-20). She points out that, while
the production requires little skill, it was, in
the EN, labour-intensive, taking about an
hour to produce each of the hundreds of
beads necessary for even a small necklace
(1996: 28). In the context of the scenario I have
been describing, we might consider whether
production of ceremonial necklaces or beaded
costumes in the EN might have been a collec-
tive undertaking by some portion of the
Franchthi community for use in a collectively
significant occasion. A single individual
would obviously have worn the costume for
the event, but the power accrued by the indi-
vidual might have been perceived as transito-
ry, the 'benefit' communal.
In the LN, when Miller suggests that unfin-
ished beads were strung, ground and polished
together (1996: 25), it became possible for a sin-
gle producer to create a complete necklace in
far less time. What had been a collective project
directed at the collective welfare could become
an individual undertaking, more readily trans-
ferred to an individual consumer, with a conse-
quent change in the value and meaning of the
beads. The status assigned to the producer of
any craft is a part of this whole dynamic, and
would have been affected by the relationship
between producer and consumer. When the
producer was not directly known to the ulti-
mate consumer, then whatever status was asso-
ciated with the product need not have been
extended to the producer.
We may see this changing status of produc-
er and product in the case of ceramics as well:
whereas in EN and MN the 'power' of the pot
was intimately linked to the producer and the
process of production, in the LN, long-dis-
tance travellers carried more different styles
of pots to distant places. The connection
between potter and pot was lost, and the pots
could take on new meanings and roles as
independent objects, while the potters lost
more of their former social importance. The
symbolic meaning of pottery seems not to
have been totally lost, for pots remain the
grave good of choice well into historic times,
but in the Final Neolithic, the role of pottery is
quite dominantly in the ordinary domestic
sphere. Pottery, in fact, loses its primary sym-
bolic role just as metal objects become pro-
gressively more abundant. One must wonder
whether pottery, the first 'art du feu', was not
replaced in its symbolic role by the even more
powerful 'art du feu', metallurgy.
I can, in fact, go on and on with this exer-
cise, explaining the varied evidence of
Neolithic Greece in terms of the renegotiation
of social roles and values. The process leads
(but not in the same way everywhere) to a
variety of emerging hierarchies, not to men-
tion economically motivated craft specialists,
Craft Specialization in the Greek Neolithic 105
in the Aegean Bronze Age. I hope, however,
that I've said enough to show that our identi-
fication of Neolithic specialists, even though
defined so broadly that Cos tin and others
have dismissed the definition as 'useless', is
actually quite useful when combined with an
examination of the different characteristics of
production, distribution, and consumption,
and when we do not insist that all specialists
must be driven by purely economic motives.
Indeed, if we forget that we have created the
various classifications related to social organi-
zation to serve as analytical tools - whether of
degrees and kinds of craft specialization or of
social hierarchies - and force all the evidence
to fit into rigid categories, then we have pre-
determined the range of possibility, rather
than provided a means to explore the richness
of it. [K.O.v.]
Notes
1. The jointly authored introduction is followed by
separate 'discussions'. Authorship is identified
by initials at the end of each relevant section.
2. Macedonia, where a different production sys-
tem prevails, is not considered in the following
analyses.
3 I call the EN potters 'specialists' because they
practised skills that others in their community
did not, and, judging from the uniform distrib-
ution of all wares, produced goods for the com-
munity as a whole. CP. rejects the term for the
EN potters (above) largely because she consid-
ers that the small scale of production could cor-
respond to simple sharing amongst depen-
dents. We are both inclined to agree with Miller
that, at this point, the label itself is less critical
than the recognition of different patterns of
production and the exploration of their impli-
cations (Miller 1996: 32).
CP. and I have also debated at some length
my choice of the term 'healer', which she con-
siders too specific. I retain the term 'healer',
however, as less specific and loaded than
'shaman', but still suggestive of a role that may
have involved potions, magic, divination, arbi-
Yanitsa B

The Makriyalos Project 109

Vasilika C
Figure 7.1 Map of Pieria and Thessaly in northern Greece and showing locations and sites mentioned in the text.
112 Maria Pappa and Manthos Besios
on the line of the ditches. In the middle of the
enclosure, part of a third ditch was found,
which perhaps subdivided the enclosure.
Phase IT seems to be smaller in extent, but the
layout of the structures is dense, despite the
high degree of erosion. Most of the structures
are round pit-houses. Oblong buildings with
apsidal ends are also evident, mainly in the
northern part of the phase IT settlement. In
some cases, it is evident that these two types of
house plan did not coexist, but their relative
chronology within phase 11 is not yet clear.
Ditches also existed during phase 11, although
their courses are difficult to determine, as they
mostly lie outside the excavated area.
Makriyalos I
The phase I settlement is encircled by two par-
allel ditches. The inner ditch, Alpha, has two
separate phases. Originally, a chain of large,
deep pits was dug, which was continuously
renewed either by cleaning out the old pits or
by digging new pits in nearly the same place
and always on the same line. The dimensions
of the ditch were uneven, measuring up to 3.5
m in depth and up to 4.5 m in width. In places,
a second phase can be clearly distinguished in
which the ditch was re-dug as a continuous V-
shaped channel. On the upper part of the hill,
ditch Alpha was severely disturbed by ero-
sion. The normal depth of up to 4.0 m is here
reduced to less than 0.5 m and in some places
only the bottom of the deepest pits survives.
Despite its depth of up to 4.5 m, the ditch was
reinforced in certain areas by mud brick or
stone walls built on its outer edge.
The fill of ditch Alpha consists of various
layers representing successive periods of con-
struction and use, all of which belong to the
earliest stages of the LN period. Much of the
ditch fill came from the collapse of the sides of
the pits, presumably after rain. This fill was
not rich in finds; the richest layers were the
upper ones, which were related to the final
desertion of the site, but layers with pottery,
animal bones, burnt seeds and numerous
human skeletons were encountered at various
depths. Thin lenses of mud in between indi-
cate the presence of water.
The second ditch, Beta, runs about 10 m out-
side ditch Alpha. It is much simpler in con-
struction, consisting of a narrow and shallow
continuous channel with a V-shaped profile.
Ditch Beta seems to have been filled by the
collapse of its own sides since virtually no
objects were found in the deposit. The third
ditch, Gamma, very similar in construction to
ditch Alpha, is as yet poorly understood, but
may have served as an internal partition.
The ditch system was covered by a dark-
brown layer up to 1.5 m thick derived from
the erosion of the top of the hill. The lack of
finds of the later period clearly suggests that
the ditch was totally abandoned and filled up
before the establishment of the phase 11 settle-
ment. The absence of phase I remains outside
the ditch system indicates that the ditch
bounded the occupation of that phase.
The understanding and interpretation of the
ditch system has been the most difficult part of
the excavation and post-excavation process. It
was obviously the boundary of the habitation
area, but its size and the considerable labour
invested in its digging and maintenance reflects
its importance for the organization of the pre-
historic settlement. A multi-dimensional role for
the ditches is being explored through analysis of
the available data. As well as delimiting the
intra-site area, the ditches act as a barrier both
against intrusion from outside and against
escape from inside. The supplementary walls
built on the rim of the ditch enhance the effec-
tiveness of the system. The ditches may also
have been used as a refuse area, as a burial place
or as a cistern for the storage of water. All these
functions are partially supported by the finds,
The copper artifacts from Makriyalos are
among the earliest found in Greece. Sixty-five
objects-more than five times the number of all
known Late Neolithic objects from the Greek
mainland-were found in the deposits of
phase 11 and there is also one object from phase
I. Nearly half the objects are small cylindrical
beads made of a small curved sheet. There are
also pins, awls, pieces of thin wire, one small
chisel preserved in excellent condition, a 'ring
idol' and other unidentified objects.
The number of figurines found during the
excavation exceeds in number any published
group from the Greek mainland (Talalay 1993:
60, table 6; Marangou 1992: 337, 340, 343). The
figurines were found in deposits all over the
excavated area and were associated with
domestic deposits. They were mainly represen-
tations of the human figure. The total number is
more than 250, distributed more or less equally
between phase I and phase 11. All the phase I
figurines and half of those from phase IT were
made of clay while the remaining phase IT spec-
imens were made of stone. The clay figurines of
phase I have parallels with examples from the
Vinca and Karanovo cultures of the central and
eastern Balkans (Girnbutas 1986: 225-301). The
type made of marble during phase 11 is very
well known from Thessalian sites of the Late
and Final Neolithic (Tsountas 1908: pIs. 37-38;
Papathanassopoulos 1996: nos. 218-19).
The debitage of the chipped stone industry
(Skourtopoulou this volume) shows that a con-
siderable variety of raw materials was used,
both exotic (such as obsidian) and local. The
ground stone tools comprise two major groups:
polished axes and chisels of fine varieties of
stone, such as serpentine or jadeite; and
querns, hand-grinders and pounders made of
various local rocks of medium quality. The lat-
ter group makes up the majority of the 8000
ground stone artefacts and was scattered
throughout the excavation. Animal bone and
antler implements are the third-much small-
er-category of tools found in the excavation.
Various points, awls, needles, spatulae and pol-
ishers are the most common types, while there
are other tools of as yet unknown function.
Among the most interesting objects are antler
or bone hafts for stone tools.
The stamps are of special interest, as the
majority of Neolithic stamps known previous-
ly dates to the earlier stages of the Neolithic
and there are only a few examples from strati-
fied LN deposits (Onasoglou 1996: 163-64). All
stamps from Makriyalos are made of clay and
belong to two different types, corresponding to
the two phases of the settlement.
It was initially thought that the dispersed
habitation pattern of Makriyalos might reflect
distinctive cultivation and stockbreeding prac-
tices, while the prevalence of round houses and
lack of successive habitation layers might sug-
gest a partially seasonal model of settlement. To
date, however, the analysis of faunal (Collins
and Halstead this volume) and botanical
remains (Valamoti this volume) has not revealed
any radical differences in subsistence evidence
from what is already known at tell sites.
Discussion
Although the finds from Makriyalos are quali-
tatively comparable with those from contem-
porary settlements in Northern Greece, in
terms of architecture and settlement organiza-
tion Makriyalos is highly distinctive. Ditch sys-
tems are known at various settlements in the
region, but the round semi-subterranean house
has not previously been found as the principal
form of dwelling in the Late Neolithic. This
kind of structure is encountered in mainland
Greece during the Early Neolithic, but again is
not common. The best preserved examples
were found at the Aceramic site of Dendra, in
the Peloponese (Protonotariou-Deilaki 1992:
106), and at Nea Makri, in Attica (Pantelidou-
Demoule, I.-P., K. Gallis and L. Manolakis
1988 Transition entre les cultures neolithiques de
Sesklo et de Dimini: les categories cera-
miques. BCH 112: 1-58.
Demoule, J.-P. and C. Perles
1993 The Greek Neolithic: a new review. Journal of
World Prehistory 7: 355-416.
Edmonds,M.
1995 Stone Tools and Society: Working Stone in
Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. London:
Batsford.
Gallis, K.
1987 Die stratigraphische Einordnung der Larisa-
Kultur: eine Richtigstellung. Priihistorische
ZeitschriJt 62: 147-63.
Gimbutas, M.
1972 The neolithic cultures of the Balkan peninsu-
la. In H. Birmbaum and S. Vryonis (eds.),
Aspects of the Balkans, International Balkan Con-
ference 1969, 849. Los Angeles: University of
California.
1986 Mythical imagery of Sitagroi society. In
C. Renfrew, M. Gimbutas and E.5. Elster
(eds.), Excavations at Sitagroi: A Prehistoric
Village in Northeast Greece, 1 (Monumenta
Archaeologica 13), 225-89. Los Angeles:
Institute of Archaeology, University of
California.
Grammenos, D.
1991 Neolithikes Erevnes stin Kentriki kai Anatoliki
Makedonia. Athens: Arkhaiologiki Etairia.
Grammenos, D., M. Besios and S. Kotsos
1997 Apo tous proistorikous oikismous tis Ken-
trikis Makedonias. Thessaloniki: Etairia
Makedonikon Spoudon.
Grammenos, D., M. Pappa, D. Ourem-Kotsos,
K. Skourtopoulou, E. Giannouli and B. Tsigarida
1990 Anaskafi neolithikou oikismou Thermis,
anaskafiki periodos 1987. Makedonika 27:
223-88.
Grammenos, D., M. Pappa, D. Ourem-Kotsos,
K. Skourtopoulou, E. Giannouli, Kh. Maragkou, S.M.
Valamoti, G. Siridis, E. Marki and R. Khristidou
1992 Anaskafi neolithikou oikismou Thermis B
kai Bizantinis egkatastasis para ton prois-
toriko oikismo Thermi A, anaskafiki perio-
dos 1989, Makedonika 28: 381-501.
Halstead, P.
1984 Strategies of Survival: An Ecological Approach
to Social and Economic Change in the Early
Farming Communities of Thessaly, N. Greece.
PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Jones, G.D.B.
1987 Apulia 1: Neolithic Settlement in the Tavoliere.
London: Society of Antiquaries of London.
Kotsakis, K.
1994 The use of habitational space in Neolithic
Sesklo. In La Thessalie, quinze annees de
recherches archeologiques, 1975-1990, 1, 125-
30. Athens: Ministry of Culture.
Marangou, C.
1992 Idolia: Figurines et miniatures du neolithique
recent et du bronze ancien en Grece (BAR Int.
Ser. 576). Oxford: British Archaeological
Reports.
Onasoglou, A.
1996 Seals. In G.A. Papathanassopoulos (ed.),
Neolithic Culture in Greece, 163-64. Athens:
Goulandris Foundation.
Pantelidou-Gofa, M.
1991 I Neolithiki Nea Makri: ta Oikodomika. Athens:
Arkhaeologiki Etairia.
Papathanassopoulos, G.A. (ed.)
1996 Neolithic Culture in Greece. Athens: Goulan-
dris Foundation.
Pappa, M.
1997 Neolithiki egkatastasi sto khoro tis Dieth-
nous Ekthesis Thessalonikis. AEMTh 7: 303-
10.
in press I organosi tou khorou stous proistorikous
oikismous tis Borias Pierias. In Ancient
Macedonia, 5th International Symposium,
Thessaloniki 1996.
Protonotariou-Deilaki, E.
1992 Paratirisis stin Prokeramiki. In Diethnes
Sinedrio gia tin Arkhaia Thessalia sti Mnimi tau
Dimitri R. Theokhari, 97-119. Athens: Tamio
Arkhaiologikon Poron.
Saidel, B.A.
1993 Round house or square? Architectural form
and socio-economic organization in the
PPNB. JMA 6: 65-108.
Talalay, L.
1993 Deities, Dolls and Devices: Neolithic Figurines
from Franchthi Cave, Greece. Indianapolis:
Indiana University Press.
Tine S.
1983 Passo di Corvo e la Civi/ta Neolitica del
Tavoliere. Genoa: Sagep Editrice.
Tringham, R. and M. Stevanovic
1990 Field research. In R. Tringham and D. Krstic,
Selevac: A Neolithic Village in Yugoslavia, 57-
156. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology,
University of California.
The Chipped Stone from Makriyalos: A Preliminanj Report 125
engaged in production. In the case of chipped
stone craftsmanship, such practical considera-
tions include the accessibility of raw materials,
the suitability of different rock types for partic-
ular purposes, and the technical skill required
to control the morphology and functional
potential of products. Technology also reflects
personal abstractions of everyday experience,
some of which may have obvious practical rel-
evance and some not. Techniques are shaped at
both the practical and the ideological level and
there is a constantly recursive, dialectical rela-
tionship between human experience and the
external world within which it is formed and
reified. From this perspective, a few points can
be made that might contribute to a discussion
of the meaning of the variable roles of chipped
stone production in the Neolithic community
of Makriyalos.
A great variety of raw materials was used
for chipped stone production at Makriyalos, a
high proportion of which can be characterized
petrographically as of local or regional prove-
nance. From a technological point of view, at
least, two kinds of production can be distin-
guished. On the one hand, there are signifi-
cant numbers of easily produced, unstandard-
ized tools that do not require high technical
skill and may well be related to the direct sat-
isfaction of practical needs. On the other
hand, there are far fewer products of skilled
craftsmanship, blade-tools for which, in most
cases, there is not much evidence of on-site
production. In terms of the relationship
between raw material quality and the invest-
ment of technical knowledge, it is clear that
there is a diversity of high-quality raw materi-
als among the chipped stone products that
cannot be explained solely in terms of the
regional geology. While the non-local raw
materials are exclusively associated with fin-
ished tools and blades, skilled blade produc-
tion is also carried out using regional raw
materials (high-quality quartz, ultrabasic sili-
cates and radiolarized jasper) with evidence
of on-site production.
Turning to the relationship between chipped
stone production and patterns of tool use and
maintenance, it has already been noted that
there is no major difference in the percentage of
secondary transformations on blades and
flakes (38% and 30% retouching, respectively),
but there are differences in the structure of
retouch types and in the occurrence of clear or
possible use traces. The formation of gloss
mainly on blades, in combination with resharp-
ening retouch, links these tools to horticultural
activities. On the other hand, the variability in
retouched tool-types observed on flakes,
together with the recorded splintering of many
flake products, may imply their use for a dif-
ferent range of activities. It is not easy to make
inferences as to the intensity of use of either
blades or flakes without further use-wear stud-
ies. It could be argued, however, that the for-
mation of silica gloss mostly on blades, the fre-
quent resharpening of the latter and the pres-
ence of edge damage on non-retouched blade
edges, all result from the use of blades for a
restricted range of activities that can be suc-
cessfully carried out only through a rather
intensive use of blade products. Parameters
like time or weather or other environmental
factors might play a key role in determining
any possible range of activities.
Following recent approaches to the Neolithic
of Greece, the diversification of tool production
strategies can be attributed up to a point to net-
works of itinerant craftsmen, acting as part-
time specialists on a subsistence basis and
moving far beyond the boundaries of their own
communities (Demoule and Perles 1993; Perles
1992, 1994b; Perles and Vitelli 1994). Full dis-
cussion of the Makriyalos evidence in the con-
text of these models must await completion of
the study of the chipped stone. At this juncture,
however, it is worth noting that the diversity of
raw materials at Makriyalos may partly be
The Chipped Stone from Mnkriyalos: A Preliminary Report 127
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Prehistoric Makriyalos:
A Story from the Fragments
Sevi Triantaphyllou
1. Nea Nlkomedeia
2. Makri
3. Umenaria
Figure 9.1 Map of Northern Greece indicating Neolithic sites with published primary neolithic burials.
Knowledge of mortuary behaviour in Nor-
thern Greece during the Neolithic is very limit-
ed. A few primary burials have been found
(Fig. 9.1) at Nea Nikomedeia (Rodden 1962:
286; Angel 1973), Makri (Agelarakis and
Efstratiou 1996), Limenaria (Malamidou and
Papadopoulos 1997), Makriyalos (Bessios and
Pappa 1995, 1997, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c; Pappa
1997a) and Thessaloniki (Pappa 1997b; Trianta-
phyllou 1997), but most of the skeletal remains
consist of disarticulated bones found scattered
in settlement deposits (Triantaphyllou in
preparation). Excavated human remains of
Neolithic date are rare in Greece as a whole, so
that it is tempting to conclude that the notable
scarcity of Neolithic burials in Northern Greece
is not simply a result of the inadequacies of
archaeological research. Other factors, howev-
er, such as patterns of mortuary treatment, also
need to be considered. The recently excavated
site of Makriyalos is one of the few locations
with sufficient evidence of both the settlement
and the mortuary disposal area to permit con-
clusions to be drawn regarding Neolithic
funerary behaviour. This paper will focus on
two points: first, the particular character of the
human bones deposited together with the diffi-
culties involved in their analysis; secondly, pre-
liminary results of the osteological study.
The excavators have distinguished two
chronological components at Makriyalos,
both dated to the Late Neolithic (Bessios and
Prehistoric Makriyalos: A Story from the Fragments 129
Figure 9.2 Distribution of the LN Makriyalos I disarticulated skeletal elements.
Pappa 1995, 1997, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c; Pappa
1997a). A securely dated Early Bronze Age
cemetery has also been recovered in close
proximity to the Late Neolithic site. The
largest proportion of the Makriyalos phase I
human bones comes from the enclosure ditch
A, while a smaller amount of osteological
material has been found in the habitation stra-
ta of the settlement. At this stage of the osteo-
logical examination, it is possible to distin-
guish two main burial forms, that is, primary
and secondary burials.
Only a few primary burials were recovered
from ditch A, representing skeletons thrown
directly into the ditch. The disarticulated bones
recovered from ditch A can be interpreted in
two ways. The deceased may have been buried
or exposed outside the ditch, and their skeletal
remains then reburied in the ditch as a sec-
ondary treatment. Alternatively, the deceased
may originally have been placed in the ditch
and their remains later disturbed, possibly
unintentionally, by the everyday activities of
the Neolithic inhabitants of Makriyalos. The
principal difference between the two alterna-
tives is that the former emphasizes the sec-
ondary treatment of the human remains and the
latter the primary character of the burials.
The 'disarticulated
7
bones display varying
degrees of disarticulation in the different parts
of ditch A, which may again reflect differen-
tial mortuary treatment or subsequent distur-
bance by natural or cultural agency. For exam-
ple, there are concentrations of human bones
in skeletal association, implying once articu-
lated burials, in the eastern part of ditch A
(trench A), and to a lesser extent, in the north-
ern part of ditch A and adjacent habitation
deposits (the large pit in sector E). Elsewhere
in the habitation deposits of Makriyalos I,
miscellaneous human bones were found as
small, scattered fragments and were mainly
130 Sevi Triantaphyllou
recognized after excavation, during examina-
tion of the animal bones. There is no indica-
tion of articulated burials in any of the habita-
tion strata of the phase I settlement, with the
exception of sector E, as mentioned above.
The disarticulated skeletal remains from
phase I do not indicate any clear bias in body
part representation (Fig. 9.2). Cranial frag-
ments are particularly common and long bones
are well represented, while vertebrae, os coxae
and to a lesser extent hands and feet are usual-
ly under-represented, probably because of
poor recovery and preservation, but not absent.
The abundance of teeth and the presence of
smaller bones, such as those of the hand and
foot, in the ditch deposits reinforce the sugges-
tion that articulated skeletons were thrown
directly into ditch A and that this was the main
disposal area of the phase I settlement.
Although osteological analysis is at an early
stage, a minimum of 50 to 60 individuals is
thought to be represented in the primary and
secondary human remains from phase I. The
total population of a Neolithic village has
been a subject of debate among archaeologists
over the last twenty years (Renfrew 1972: 238;
Halstead 1977; 1981: 312-3). Most estimates of
population size have been based on the over-
all extent of tell settlements, interpreted in the
light of ethnographic data on residential pat-
terns in modern egalitarian societies. In the
case of extended sites such as Makriyalos,
where the area of occupation debris does not
represent a continuous and dense building
cover (Andreou and Kotsakis 1994: 20), any
such estimates are even more hazardous, but
it is a reasonable inference that the number of
individuals so far identified from the phase I
settlement represents only a small fraction of
the original population.
In phase II, there are primarily disarticulated
remains of inhumations and also one crema-
tion. The single cremation is an intramural
burial of a neonate/infant, placed in a small
urn. Given that only part of the settlement has
been excavated, other intramural burials may
remain undiscovered. At least nine individu-
als are represented by the disarticulated bones
recovered from the settlement deposits of
phase II and two further individuals are rep-
resented in a rubbish pit located outside the
main settlement area in sector H.
As regards body part representation (Fig.
9.3), the phase II assemblage includes a small
number of cranial, long and small bone frag-
ments and teeth, while ribs are wholly absent
and flat bones (ossa coxae and scapulae) are
significantly underrepresented. Much of the
material is extremely fragmentary, in particu-
lar that from the earth removal deposits in the
north-west (sector H) of the phase II settle-
ment. The fragmentation of the material may
largely have taken place, therefore, during
post-depositional disturbance.
Finally, an Early Bronze Age extramural ceme-
tery has been recovered in close proximity to
the phase II settlement. This was initially
assigned, on circumstantial evidence, to the
Late Neolithic, but AMS dates for skeletons
from the cemetery date it securely to the begin-
ning of the Early Bronze Age (2800-2500 BC)
(Triantaphyllou in preparation). It includes ten
articulated inhumations; the graves were sim-
ple pits and the bodies were laid in a contract-
ed position, for the most part without any
grave goods (Bessios and Pappa 1998b).
How should the deposition of human
remains in prehistoric Makriyalos be interpret-
ed? The phase I ditches no doubt served a vari-
ety of purposes, perhaps including defence
against raiders and a barrier against intrusion
of the wild, but the haphazard nature of their
construction and instances of partial infilling
7
(including burials) require further explanation
(Andreou, Fotiadis and Kotsalis 1996: 573). The
repeated digging out of ditch A created a per-
manent landmark in the physical landscape,
while its recurrent association with burials, pri-
Figure 9.3 Distribution of the LN Makriyalos II disarticulated skeletal elements.
mary or secondary, implies continuity of use of
the area. Every time a burial took place in ditch
A, the living participants also paid their
respects to the wider community of the
deceased (Triantaphyllou in preparation).
Moreover, if the constituent sections of the
ditch were created and later used by particular
social units for burial, it is likely that 'social
alliances were continually realigned and rene-
gotiated through the various uses of the ditch'
(Hodder 1992: 232). The ditch may well have
constituted a field of contentions, therefore, not
only between the human community and
nature, but also among the social segments
kin groups or othermaking up the communi-
ty' (Andreou, Fotiadis and Kotsakis 1996: 573).
On the other hand, the disposal of the
deceased in a place apparently accessible to all
members of the living community emphasizes
the communal and the primacy of group identi-
ty over the individual. Arguably, the disposal
of the deceased during phase I at Makriyalos
was not confined to the individual household,
but consisted rather of a public event that
incorporated the whole group or groups of
people in a common ceremony (Chapman
1993: 81). The burial practices that took place at
the ditch functioned 'as a mechanism for inte-
grating and organising what were probably
kinship groups' (Sharpies 1985: 70). 'The mor-
tuary domain is a key spatial arena of public
performance in which appropriate ways of
treating the dead are negotiated' (Chapman
1997: 138), while the ancestors, as represented
by the community of the deceased, may play a
key role 'as guardians of the past and allies of
the present' (Chapman 1993:110).
The community of the ancestors may have
played a series of roles in reproducing rela-
tions amongst the living. While the collective
character of the deposits may have masked
certain asymmetries of power, 'the presence of
the ancestors would have reinforced the ties
between particular lineages and the land they
worked' (Edmonds 1993: 114). In the context
of these essentially egalitarian societies, the
construction of enclosed and defended sites
can also be understood as an intensification
and formalization of the use of certain spaces
in the landscape. This type of agricultural
economy may have required a continuing
commitment to particular places as well as the
creation of stable lineages which would pro-
vide larger labour teams
7
(Sherratt 1990: 149).
Evidence from phase II is restricted to disar-
ticulated remains found in the settlement
deposits and the large rubbish pit of sector H.
It is possible, however, that the primary dis-
posal area of the phase II settlement has not
yet been located and thus that the normal type
of disposal practised in this phase cannot yet
be determined.
Finally, the discrete EBA disposal area is in
accord with recent evidence from Western and
Central Macedonia (Ayios Mamas: Pappa 1995;
Sykia: Assouchidou, Mantazi and Tsolakis in
press; Goules: Ziota and Hondroyianni-Metoki
1997; and Koilada: Ziota 1996,1998a, 1998b, in
press; Triantaphyllou 1998). The occurrence of
organized burial grounds outside the settle-
ment seems to be common practice in the Early
Bronze Age and clearly contrasts with the pat-
tern of disposal represented in the Neolithic
phases of Makriyalos.
Osteological study of the human bones from
Makriyalos may shed light on demography
and health (Triantaphyllou in preparation). The
discussion above has already briefly outlined
some of the problems posed for the investiga-
tion of demography by the poor preservation
and recovery of the skeletal remains. Excluding
immature individuals, only 50% of the phase I
material can be sexed, among which female
skeletons clearly predominate: 9 male or prob-
able male individuals have been recorded com-
pared to 24 females or probable females.
Interestingly, several children and juveniles are
represented. Both these observations are partic-
ularly significant because early age categories
are usually missing from the archaeological
record and because there is generally a bias in
osteological material against female skeletons
(Walker, Johnson and Lambert 1988; Weiss
1972). More particularly, ditch A contained 8
males and 21 females (Fig. 9.4), suggesting that,
despite the predominance of women, both
sexes had access to the disposal area of ditch A.
In phase II, the disarticulated skeletal
remains include two neonates (one cremation
and one inhumation), one infant, two juve-
niles, one male adult and six adults of inde-
terminate sex. The lack of females in the phase
II assemblage is striking, although preserva-
tional factors and sample size need to be taken
into account. Until the osteological analysis is
completed any interpretation must be provi-
sional. The Early Bronze Age cemetery holds
five males and one female, as well as remains
of one neonate, one infant and one child.
The fragmentary state of preservation of the
human remains greatly restricts palaeopatho-
logical information from prehistoric Makri-
gialos. The most common pathological lesions
from phase I are dental disease, cribra orbitalia
(sieve-like cranial lesions in the eye orbits,
implying anaemia), and non-specific infections
or generalized skeletal inflammations called
periosteal reactions or periostitis. As regards
dental health, calculus deposits (calcified den-
tal plaque) are relatively frequent on perma-
nent teeth, but only a few cases have been
recorded of caries (decay of dental enamel
caused by acid attack) and enamel hypoplasia
lines (localized reductions in crown enamel
thickness), which are primary indicators of
dietary or health stress. It is perhaps significant
that, out of 23 female or probable female skele-
tons, eight reveal evidence of pathological
lesions, while only one out of six male or prob-
able male skeletons shows some kind of
Figure 9.4 Distribution of sex groups in LN Makriyalos I.
pathology. Moreover, stress indicators such as
cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia lines
have been observed only in female or probable
female skeletal remains. Women were probably
more susceptible to disease and stress because
of pregnancy and childbearing, but the lower
health status of women may also reflect an
active role in production as well as reproduc-
tion.
The phase II skeletal remains cannot be con-
sidered in the palaeopathological study because
of the fragmentary condition of the skeletal
remains. The human bones of the Early Bronze
Age cemetery, however, reveal a higher health
status than those of phase I, with only slight cal-
culus deposits, mild caries, few enamel hypo-
plasia lines and a lack of evidence for both
cribra orbitalia and non-specific infections.
The excavation of Makriyalos is a landmark
in our understanding of the prehistory of Greek
Macedonia for two reasons. First, the scale of
the excavation has offered the clearest insights
to date into the spatial organization of mortu-
ary activity and into the role of the deceased in
shaping the community of the living. Secondly,
the human skeletal assemblage, though rela-
tively fragmentary, is large enough to provide
some insights into the demography and health
status of early prehistoric populations.
Acknowledgments
The present work derives from part of my doc-
toral dissertation. I would like to thank the
excavators of Makriyalos, Manthos Bessios and
Maria Pappa, who have entrusted me with the
study of the human remains from the site and
have generously provided me with the neces-
sary facilities, permits and contextual informa-
tion. My advisers, Dr Andrew Chamberlain
and Dr Paul Halstead of the Department of
Archaeology and Prehistory, University of
Sheffield, have supported me with helpful
comments and criticisms on earlier drafts of the
present work. I am grateful to my teachers in
Greece, Dr Stelios Andreou and Dr Kostas
Kotsakis of the Department of Archaeology
and History, University of Thessaloniki, who
have provided a constant critical stimulus since
my undergraduate years in Thessaloniki. My
friends E. Kiriatzi, N. Krahtopoulou and K.
Skourtopoulou have contributed significantly
to the final version of this paper. The research
and analysis was made possible through the
funding of the Wiener Laboratory, American
School of Classical Studies at Athens, where I
held the 1994-95 J.L. Angel Fellowship.
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Edmonds, M.
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1972 The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the
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1990 The genesis of megaliths: monumentality, eth-
nicity and social complexity in Neolithic north-
west Europe. World Archaeology 22: 147-67.
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1997 Neolithiki tafi apo tin anaskafi tis D.E.
Thessalonikis: apotelesmata tis osteologikis exe-
tasis. Thessalonikeon Polis 2: 14-17.
1998 Prehistoric cemetery populations from northern
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1988 Age and sex biases in the preservation of
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1972 On the systematic bias in skeletal sexing.
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1998b Kitrini Limni 1995. Nees erevnitikes drastiri-
otites. AEMTh 9: 47-58.
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otites. AEMTh 12.
Ziota, H. and A. Hondroyianni-Metoki
1997 Aliakmon 1993, proistoriki erevna. AEMTh 7:
33-34.
140 Patricia Col/ins and Paul Halstead
Mortality Patterns in Cattle and Goats
The sample of cattle mandibles from Makri-
gialos is large enough for meaningful analysis
of mortality. A substantially older pattern of
mortality is indicated than in the case of sheep,
raising the possibility of a complementary man-
agement strategy in which secondary products
(probably milk) were a major goal. For similar
reasons of sample size, it is also unusually
worthwhile to attempt to disentangle patterns
of mortality and management of goats from
those of the more abundant sheep. For
mandibles containing deciduous teeth (i.e. up
to c. 2 years of age), distinction between sheep
and goats is relatively easy (Payne 1985b). To
develop criteria for differentiating adults, a
large collection of modem adult mandibles of
known species has been assembled. Initial
results suggest that it will indeed be possible to
distinguish adult as well as juvenile mandibles
of these two species.
The Use of Metal Tools in Butchery?
A large number of skinning, dismembering, fil-
leting and functionally ambiguous cut marks is
discernible in the Makriyalos faunal assem-
blage. In many cases, these marks occur as
clusters of short, irregular cuts, typical of stone
tool butchery, while there are few if any marks
characteristic of metal tools (cf. Binford 1981;
Collins 1987). Despite the relative wealth of
early metal objects at Makriyalos, therefore, it
seems that metal knives were not regularly
used in butchery.
Intra-site Variation in Bone Discard and the
Consumption of Animal Products
Within the phase I settlement, substantial con-
trasts are apparent between major context
groups, not only in the relative proportions of
the principal domesticates, but also in their
body part representation and age distribution.
As yet, however, it is unclear to what extent
these contrasts reflect variations in post-depo-
sitional taphonomy (carnivore attrition, weath-
ering, and also retrieval) rather than differences
in pre-depositional or depositional human
behaviour. For the phase 11 settlement, it is
hoped that contextual analysis of the distribu-
tion of wild animal remains will shed light on
the suggested relationship between increased
evidence for hunting and progressive isolation
of the Neolithic household (cf. Halstead this
volume).
Several preliminary observations, based on
both the faunal and other assemblages, suggest
fruitful avenues for investigation as regards the
context of consumption of animals. For exam-
ple, whereas the assemblage of unworked bone
is far larger for phase I than phase 11, the
reverse is true for worked bone (Y. Isaakidou
pers. com.). This suggests a possible contrast
between 'domestic' discard contexts, rich in
bone tools but relatively poor in unworked
bone, and 'non-domestic' contexts, containing
much of the waste from meat consumption. A
particularly striking example of such 'non-
domestic' discard may be the large phase I pit
complex in sector 0, which contained a sub-
stantial proportion of the total assemblages of
both pottery (M. Pappa pers. com.) and animal
bone from the whole site. This complex con-
tained bone remains representing several hun-
dred individuals of the principal domestic ani-
mal species and, judging from preliminary
analysis of taphonomic variables (density of
finds, bone preservation, etc.), this material
was deposited fairly rapidly-say over a peri-
od of months rather than decades or centuries.
The implication may be that much meat (and
ceramic) consumption took place in the context
of large-scale, ceremonial feasting rather than
domestic, day-to-day meals. Finally, it is
Faunal Remains and Animal Exploitation at Late Neolithic Makriyalos: PrelimirtanJ Results 141
notable that, in addition to the modest number
of more or less articulated human skeletons
recognized during excavation, scattered frag-
ments of human bone have been found almost
ubiquitously among the faunal material
(Triantaphyllou this volume). This association
might be interpreted as evidence that, after a
certain stage in funerary ritual, human remains
were accorded no particular significance and
were simply discarded with other refuse.
Given that at least some human skeletons were
buried (Triantaphyllou this volume; Pappa and
Besios this volume), however, such scattered
human bones may well reflect long-term
manipulation of the remains of ancestors and,
in that case, much meat consumption may
have taken place in a funerary context. In the
future, finer analysis of contextual and preser-
vational variables may allow a more informed
choice between these two interpretations.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Manthos Besios and Maria
Pappa for the opportunity to study the Makri-
gialos faunal assemblage. Our work has been
generously funded by the British Academy
and INSTAP, while invaluable assistants have
included Amy Bogaard, Jessica Davies, Rocky
Hyacinth, Valasia Isaakidou, Glynis Jones,
Jane Richardson and several generations of
Sheffield undergraduates.
Bibliography
Andreou, S. and K. Kotsakis
1986 Diastasis tou khorou stin kentriki Makedonia:
apotiposi tis endokoinotikis kai diakoinotikis
khoroorganosis. In Amitos (Festschrift M. And-
ronikos), 57-88. Thessaloniki: University of
Thessaloniki.
BWord, L.R.
1981 Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths. New
York: Academic Press.
Collins, P.
1987 Getting into the Groove: An Experiment to Find
Differences between Cut-Marks Made by Non-Metal
and Metal Tools . BA dissertation, University of
Sheffield.
Driesch, A. von den
1987 Haus- und Jagdtiere im vorgeschichtlichen
Thessalien. Priihistorische Zeitschrift 62: 1-21.
Giannouli, E.G.
1990 I proistoriki panida tis Thermis B. Makedonika
17: 262-78.
1992 I neolithiki Therrni: ta dedomena apo ta osta ton
zoon (anaskafiki period os 1989). Makedonika 18:
413-26.
Grarnrnenos, D.B.
1991 Neolithikes Erevnes stin Kentriki kai Anatoliki
Makedonia. Athens: Arkhaiologiki Etairia.
Halstead, P.
1996 Pastoralism or household herding? Problems of
scale and specialization in early Greek animal
husbandry. World Archaeology 28: 20-42.
Payne, S.
1973 Kill-off patterns in sheep and goats: the mandi-
bles from Asvan Kale. Anatolian Studies 23: 281-
303.
1985a Zoo-archaeology in Greece: a reader's guide. In
N.C. Wilkie and W.D.E. Coulson (eds.), Contribu-
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William A. McDonald, 211-44. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
1985b Morphological distinctions between the
mandibular teeth of young sheep, Ovis, and
goats, Capra. JAS 12: 139-47.

@
-
\, ,, .,"' '
o 5
cm
Figure 12.5 Spondylus shell beads found in Theopetra.
the flint, a significant number of blades and
bladelets; for the quartz industry, blades are
rather few. In addition, there is a significant
proportion of retouched pieces (c. 30%), even-
ly distributed between flakes and blades or
bladelets; these include a variety of tool-types
(end-scrapers on flakes and small ones on
The Neolithic Use of Theopetra Cave in Thessaly 147
-.
-
blades; linear retouch often in combination
with silica gloss; perforating tools; triangular
pressure points; notches, sometimes denticu-
late; truncations), representing a range of
everyday tasks. The rather low percentage of
retouched pieces, and the absence of recycling
for the majority of these, do not give the
148 Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika
impression of a highly economizing industry,
but additional evidence for used products
might come from the identification of edge
damage, which seems to characterize quite a
significant number of blades and flakes .
Moreover, activities outside the cave, such as
harvesting or field clearance, should also be
considered. The tools for these activities might
well be produced inside the cave, as the pres-
ence of a small number of blades with silica
gloss implies, and then used outside.
In addition to local raw materials, the pres-
ence should also be noted of a few high-qual-
ity flint products (transparent or translucent,
thin-grained materials of light grey, beige or
' honey' colour), the provenance of which
should be sought in Western Greece, to judge
from their macroscopic characteristics. These,
together with a few obsidian blades and
bladelets of Melian origin, again underline the
existence of a network of contacts with distant
areas. The restricted number of these exotic
pieces, together with the absence of debitage
and their highly specialized technology, point
to the participation of the site in a well-orga-
nized exchange network (cf. Perles 1992;
Perles and Vitelli 1994).
The pottery, although usually mixed, because
of the disturbance of the layers described
above, is representative of all phases of the
Neolithic: the oldest sherds were found in the
deepest Neolithic layers, either just over (and
sometimes intruding into the top of) the char-
acteristic Mesolithic layer (squares f7, !l.7, H7,
H8-Fig. 12.1) or just over the light-coloured
deposit from the end of the Upper Palaeolithic
(square Zl1, in places where the Mesolithic
deposit is absent). Very few of these sherds are
painted, in dark brown or dark red on a lighter
background with motifs comprising simple
straight or curved lines. Some sherds are pol-
ished, while the majority are monochrome,
dark or light, with thin but not fine-surfaced
walls and vertical rims. To this very early cate-
gory belongs a small proportion of the pottery
that seems to come from undisturbed layers.
The main Early Neolithic pottery is charac-
terized by monochrome, usually brown or red
ware, either polished or unpolished (Fig.
12.6). Among the former, some sherds have
distinctive plastic breasts or strips. Incised
and impressed pottery of the same period
includes nail impressions, either in rows or
scattered, barbotine, dotted impressions,
wedge shapes, and sometimes a combination
of more than one decorative style. Finger
prints and pinch impressions are characteris-
tic of storage jars. Painted pottery makes up a
very small percentage of the assemblage in
this phase: brown or red bands cover a part of
the vessel or form parallel lines (Fig. 12.7),
usually broad and unorganized, while red tri-
angles just under the rim on the interior or
exterior face of the vessel recall similar deco-
ration at Sesklo, Prodromos and other con-
temporary settlements. Rainbow ware,
including some excellent pieces, also belongs
to this Early Neolithic phase.
The majority of the pottery belongs to the
Middle and Late Neolithic phases. Character-
istic pottery of the Middle Neolithic, some-
times of excellent quality both technologically
and decoratively, includes several 'offering
tables', usually in red on light with parallel
lines (Fig. 12.8), as well as the 'solid style'
known from Tzani Magoula and abundant
scraped ware. Late Neolithic pottery is mainly
represented by Tsangli' painted ware (brown
on light or brown on red, well polished), as
well as the fine grey on grey and black polished
pottery of 'Larissa' style. There is also' Arapi'
pottery, black polished outside and red pol-
ished inside. Incised ware, the incisions filled
with white material, is rather rarely represent-
ed in the cave. Simple plastic decoration,
snake-shaped or in elongated bands, some-
times rope-shaped with finger impressions in
geometric patterns or rows, characterizes the
Figure 12.6 An Early Neolithic monochrome vase from
Theopetra Cave.
Chalcolithic period. Some Mycenaean pottery,
probably from a nearby Mycenaean settlement,
also occurs in the cave, indicating its continued
use even when it was no longer inhabited.
Excavation of the Neolithic deposits has
uncovered a significant quantity of human
bones, though not yet qualitatively sufficient
for a solid anthropological study. Ongoing geo-
logical and geochemical analysis of the cave
sediments provides independent evidence of
the diagenetic processes affecting the osteologi-
cal material. In the surviving sample, certain
anatomical elements are poorly preserved, so
The Neolithic Use of Theopetra Cave in Thessaly 149
- -- - - ---
\
\
\
I
/
/
/
/
,
/
/ ,/
Figure 12.7 An Early Neolithic painted bowl from
Theopetra Cave
\
I
\
\
\
\
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
that conclusions concerning demographic or
sociocultural variables (sexing, pathology, bur-
ial practice) must be treated with caution.
Given these constraints and that research is still
ongoing, the minimum number of individuals
can very tentatively be estimated at about 20
persons, including similar numbers of males
and females. The sample largely comprises
adolescent and adult individuals, with a rela-
tive lack of children and preadolescents; this is
not typical of prehistoric Greece, but may be an
artefact of biased preservation. Strikingly, the
pathological conditions found in Neolithic
skeletons in other areas do not occur in
Theopetra cave (i.e. anaemias, cribra orbitalia,
malnutrition, etc.). Slight arthritic phenomena
are observed in a few adults, while occupation-
al pathology is significant. From the few scat-
tered teeth and broken jaws, it seems that the
population was in good dental health (slight
periodontitis), pointing to a good diet. Reliable
pdlaeopathological inferences can only be
drawn, however, from a larger sample of appro-
priate skeletal parts.
150 Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika

I :
" ...
,
,
" "-
"
"
,
\ ,
\ .
' .. _ _ .. I
Figure 12.8 A Middle Neolithic 'offering table' from Theopetra Cave.
The people who used and/ or were buried in
the cave were well-built. They were short in
stature, as were most Neolithic people in
Central Greece (1.54-1.62 m +/- 2 cm). Their
mortuary practices are unknown: the sparse-
ness of the human remains does not preclude
an intentional pattern of burial (cf. Trinkaus
1984), since the distribution of bones in the
cave and associated diagenetic processes are
still under investigation.
Discussion
What was the function of this cave during the
Neolithic period, when many open-air settle-
ments existed in Thessaly? The inhabitants of
open-air settlements in the middle of the plain
cultivated crops, raised domesticated animals,
hunted game and collected wild plant foods,
much as the peasants of the plains did until
recently. Cave occupation of course has bene-
fits: it protects its inhabitants from enemies,
from cold and hot weather, and from flood
and fire. Fire could entirely destroy open set-
tlements, with houses made of clay and
inflammable materials, and there are magoules
where occupation apparently ended in an
extensive fire (e.g. Magoulitsa). On the other
hand, the microclimate of a cave is always
moist and, given the alternative of open-air
settlement, it is reasonable to ask why a
Neolithic community should prefer to spend
good weather in damp conditions not so dif-
ferent from those prevailing in winter.
Moreover, a cave has a finite size and can
house a limited number of people, while
open-air settlements offer the possibility of
expansion with increasing population.
Who used Theopetra cave? A small com-
munity composed of a few families, whatever
a family might mean in Neolithic times? Or
was it a refuge in such conditions as extreme
cold or flooding, used by people from differ-
ent open-air settlements who had discovered
the cave and used it in difficult times? That
the cave must have had, even periodically,
the function of a normal settlement is evident
Zas-Cave on Naxos and the Role of Caves in the Aegean Late NeoJithic 155
and ventilation. There is a modem spring in
front of the entrance to the cave and it is rea-
sonable to suggest that water sources were
even more copious in the prehistoric land-
scape. Observation of the side walls and roof
of the cave suggests that dripping water never
caused serious discomfort to the prehistoric
inhabitants of the cave. There are, however,
some characteristics of the cave's morphology
that present serious difficulties for its use as a
habitation site during the Neolithic period.
The floor of the cave was not uniformly flat,
but comprised small hollows scattered
between enormous rocks. In addition, spo-
radic rock falls made living inside the cave
very dangerous. In one case, a thick layer of
large fallen rocks served as a useful terminus
in dividing the stratigraphic sequence of the
relevant trench (trench E 4). Despite these dis-
advantages, the first settlers did stay inside
the cave, gathering together in the small hol-
lows around unfixed hearths. In one instance,
in the deepest stratum, a saddle-quem and a
grinder were found resting on the bedrock
and around them were some implements of
bone and obsidian. A second grinder was
found in a higher Neolithic layer. Otherwise,
the excavations did not record any evidence
for spatial organization.
Why did the Neolithic inhabitants of the
island insist on visiting and staying inside the
cave? Was the exploitation of its environment
related to subsistence activities, or were
human visits associated with spiritual aspects
of their culture?
The Evidence of the Pottery
As regards the fabrics of the pottery from Zas,
a gradual increase in coarse wares is observed
from the lowest to the uppermost layers. This
tendency has been attested in most LN sites in
Southern Greece (Jacobsen 1973: 271-75;
Diamant 1974: 65-71; Phelps 1975: 296, 320, 345;
Zachos 1987a: 49-50). The repertory of vessels
includes shapes for food preparation, con-
sumption, and storage of liquids or solids, as
well as some types that can hardly be associat-
ed with the process of food consumption. This
variety of shapes favours the suggestion that
the use of the cave was related to habitation.
The small quantity of storage vessels does not
suggest the existence of a surplus of whatever
commodities reached the cave. In some sites,
however, like Tharounia cave in Euboia
(Sampson 1993: 268-69), and the caves of
Alepotrypa (Papathanasopoulos 1996b: 84),
A'Kouveleiki Spilia (Koumouzeli 1989: 155, fig.
13), Spileo Lirnnon (Katsarou and Sampson
1989: 165-66) and Koufiero (Zachos 1987a: 14-
16) and open sites of Ayios Dirnitrios (Zachos
1987a: 68-69) and Sfakovouni (Spiropoulos
1982: 116; Papathanasopoulos 1996a: catalogue
no. 140) in the Peloponnese, the considerable
proportions of pithoi and other large coarse
vessels recovered from final Neolithic deposits
(Phelps 1975: 338-40) strongly support, in my
opinion, the existence of some kind of surplus.
Ouring this period in Southern Greece, the
large storage vessel known in antiquity as the
'pithos' takes its classical shape (Phelps 1975:
339; for a discussion of storage vessels during
the Neolithic and EBA in Greece, see
Toulournis 1994: 99-142). The low proportion of
storage vessels at Zas cave might, in this
respect, reflect a seasonal ra ther than perennial
use of the cave.
Only a few shapes could possibly be con-
nected with some special, perhaps ritual, use of
the cave at Zas: a few small jars combining pat-
tern-burnished and crusted decoration (Fig.
13.2; Zachos 1990: catalogue no. 7; Fig. 13.3)
and a couple of jugs bearing white-painted and
red-crusted decoration (Zachos 1990: catalogue
no. 8). The thick pigment of the red- or white-
crusted decoration, with its tendency to peel off
easily, makes these vases unsuitable for every-

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86 Paul Halstead

blages is too few for detailed anatomical

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